(From the Book "Killers, Angels, Refugees" by Peter Hammill)
BILL, BEN AND MEDE
Read the questions carefully. You are advised not to answer any or all of them. Marks will be awarded only for empathy with the protagonists.
Three resolute merchant seamen arranged to run a race from Southampton to Winchester. They agreed on no rules bar the fact that they should use only, the main road, and not the pavements.
Bill, a stoker, chose to run
in the gutter on the left hand side of the road. Ben, a second lieutenant,
elected to race on the right side hand side, also in the gutter. Mede,
whose rank, status, and mental attitude are to this unknown, ran
down the centre of the road, along the dotted white line and at the
brow of both cambers. In common between them all were three things: an
unshakeable belief in their
own victory, and in the justice of such; acknowledgement
of the fact that a run of seventeen miles would exhaust them; hope
for the sight of the spire of Winchester cathedral.
Each had a different style of
running. Ben was a fast sprinter, and hoped to burn up the others' will
by his initial speed. Bill was not particularly fast,
but the power in his legs and chest and his overall stamina would,
he believed, see him through. Mede was neither hare nor tortoise, but a
tactician, and hoped to carry away the victory by conserving his energy
for the final burst into the cathedral precincts.
There were advantages and disadvantages
for each of them in their chosen positions. Bill had a clear view around
right-hand bends, none around left-hand ones, but was in no danger from
oncoming traffic. he was threatened however, by cars coming from behind
him. Ben had reversed advantage as regards his view of the road, and had
no need to concern himself about traffic coming from behind, but
was in peril from every vehicle out of Winchester. Mede had a relatively
unobstructed view of the road ahead at all times, furthermore, was in no
danger of being disqualified by accidentally running onto the pavement,
as were the other two. However, every car and lorry stood
a good chance of running him down and he therefore had to zigzag along
the road in order to avoid these threats.
It should be mentioned at this
stage that the entire complement of their ship had bet heavily on the outcome
of the race, from the captain from the lowest cabin boy, and this lent
further importance to a contest which was already of vital interest to
the three participants.
The race proceeded much as had
been expected: Ben took off at an incredible pace and was soon
a hundred yards ahead of the others. They were, however,
unconcerned at this apparent setback. Bill
sure of eventual triumph due to his massive strength,
and Mede using him as pacemaker and having, as he would have wished,
a clear view of the race as a whole. Neither attempted to match Ben's initial
burst of speed.
One mile out of Compton, on
the Southampton side, Ben's energy was almost spent and he glanced round
despairingly as Bill and Mede pounded up to level with him. By now Bill
was confidently into rhythm and Mede , too, had his second wind and
could see that the race was running according to his projected plan.
They ran precisely even for
about two hundred yards before Ben, sensing his imminent and abject defeat
rolling from side to side in the agony of his onward, stitch torn rush,
stepped onto the easier tread of the pavement in his desperation, brazenly
breaking the rules of their game in the perches.
Ben, seeing him, was momentarily furious but then, not
wishing to run at any disadvantage, however illegally wrought, run onto
the pavement on his side of the road and, in so doing, changed the rules
by a two-to-one majority. In essence, this drama merely exemplified the
arbitrariness of rules and the perversity of human nature, but it left
Mede at a decided disadvantage, for there was no pavement to which he could
transfer his course, and he had to continue zizagging his way down the
centre of the road: such was an innate failing of his original choice.
So they continued, three abreast
across the road, Bill keeping a sure and steady pace, Ben clinging
desperately to that speed, Mede inwardly seething but
all the more determined to win. Perhaps there would have been disputes
in the close of the cathedral; perhaps (it was not unlikely from the start)
they would have to come blows; perhaps the victory would have been withheld.
The resolution of these various options is unknown, for another tripartite
drama was already unfolding.
A Globe Tours coach tried
to overtake a Carter Peterson pantechnicon, while a bright red Sprite driven
by a Southampton veterinarian on his way to cure a sick boa constrictor
was approaching on the opposite side of the road. The stretch was narrow,
and there was no room for the three to pass in safety: lorry and sport
car, in a screaming duet of tortured tyres and brakes, swerved off the
road and took out Bill and Ben. Mede was crushed under the front nearside
wheel of the coach. There was no victory.
Some questions arising from the matter....
Did Winchester exist and, if so, who would have got there first?
What difference would it have made if they were running
i) from Tubingen to Ulm?
ii) from Bethune to Canterbury?
(assume all crossed the Channel on the
Hovercraft)
What happened to the crew's bets?
Who was guilty?
Is there any point?
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